Suspect apprehended, jailed in Egan burglaries

Posted

A suspect in burglaries at two Egan businesses has been arrested on other charges in Minnehaha County, Moody County Sheriff Troy Wellman said.

The man has admitted to the Moody County crimes and is in jail but hasn’t yet been charged in the local cases, Wellman said.

The break-ins in Egan happened between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. May 15 at C&R Custom Repair and BlueJays, both on SD Highway 34. The suspect, who Wellman said appeared to be by himself and has said he was alone, took liquor, cigarettes, tools and checks. He later tried to use one of the checks at Ace Hardware in Brandon, Wellman said.

“He has been questioned. He has admitted to doing our burglaries,” Wellman said. “It sounds like there’s a pretty good-sized ring of people that are kind of in what we call a fencing ring.”

The suspect in the Moody County crimes has admitted to involvement in 20 burglaries in 10 counties, Wellman said. In addition, at least one other person has been arrested in Faulk County, he said. “It’s fairly widespread.”

Both Egan businesses had good video footage of the break-ins, Wellman said.

While there were no witnesses who saw the suspect’s vehicle, because of the video, law enforcement agents were able to put together information that led authorities to the suspect, who is believed to have used a stolen vehicle, Wellman said.

The suspect was arrested May 16 and is in the Minnehaha County Jail with no bond. The jail records also list that he is on hold for Moody, Lincoln and Brookings counties. The suspect is not being named because he has not been charged in the Moody County cases.

Some of the items taken in Egan were in a storage unit in Brandon and are being held as evidence, Wellman said.

The value of the items taken added up to thousands of dollars, he said.

“One piece of equipment he took from C&R is a $7,000 unit,” Wellman said.

Once Wellman gets a full report from Minnehaha County, he will forward it to Moody County State’s Attorney Paul Lewis for charges.

“It still could take some time,” Wellman said.